(based on 57 reviews)

PowerArchiver 11.64.01

Rated 50/50 by emanresU deriseD at Jul 10, 2009

A quick test shows it opens archives much slower than WinRAR under at least some circumstances. This is disappointing and annoying, but no other archiver (that I know of, certainly) competes with PA in terms of features and active development.

Rated 40/50 by johnsmith1234567 at Jul 10, 2009

"WARNING: 30 DAY TRIAL" works fine for extracting RAR files. not tested the ret this is not FREE software- it is a 30 day trial.

Rated 50/50 by DrTeeth at Jul 21, 2009

The best there is, period. 6*

Rated 30/50 by emanresU deriseD at Sep 7, 2009

Did I actually give this a 5? Wow. Must've been drunk and happy that day. I really tried to make a go of it with PowerArchiver. But as with so many times in the past, its innumerable bugs have driven me away. It's nonstop. Minor bugs, annoying bugs, serious bugs. Constantly. It's neverending. I love the feature set but I just can't take it anymore.

Rated 40/50 by luluz at Sep 20, 2009

Very nice compression utility, handy, intuitive and well endowed of useful features. I like its look&feed, even if (as long time PowerArchiver user) I'm a bit nostalgic of the old non Ribbon-like toolbar. It's just because I cannot make myself like Ribbon toolbars, but I must admit the new toolbar is efficient and rational as the old one.

Rated 50/50 by 4122 at Sep 22, 2009

Beautiful, modern interface that is unmatched by any other archive utility at any price & unlike a previous reviewer's experience I use it all day every day & I haven't run into any bugs, but that may just be my usage patterns. 99% of what I do is unarchive & test archives. I'm a proud owner of the professional version that I bought at a discounted price & I feel like I stole the software. luluz, if you still want the classic toolbar you can go into the options and turn off the modern interface if you wish & the interface from days of old will be back.

Rated 20/50 by UProf at Oct 1, 2009

It is fast; it has an attractive layout; when they work, it has tons of bells and whistles. They continually put out buggy versions of the products and toss fixes together prematurely, without really checking them out. If you complain they may fix a problem in one version only to have it reappear in the next. If they would take more care before they release their products, they could absolutely dominate the archive market. If everything worked as it should its the best thing out there. On the other hand, it does not matter how good it could be in principle if the user can never count on it working correctly. They are shooting themselves in the proverbial foot. It is not that they miss minor glitches (although if the forums are correct, they do that too); the botch some essential features. Recently they added a more user-friendly way to add files to a backup script. It would be great except for one thing. Even if you check the box that would shot system and hidden files . . . they don't show. They missed this in one version and then didn't fix it in the most recent version either.

Rated 30/50 by emanresU deriseD at Oct 2, 2009

My god (of which there is none, it's rhetorical of course) the bugs upon bugs upon bugs. I've had to go back to WinRAR because it is quicker and has a more solid, quality feel to it. I love PA's features but come on... I should not have to report a bug or two per week.

Rated 10/50 by UProf at Oct 22, 2009

Nice appearance; fast compression and extraction Unreliable. Sloppy. They count on forum members and users to do their work for them. They release versions with problems even a modestly cautious programmer should catch. If you complain, they fix the problems; they may also introduce new ones. If they ever get their act together, watch out. They will take the archive market by storm. But if the continue to prematurely release their product, they will turn users off. I have a lifetime subscription, so I am sure I will give it a shot sometime in the future.; But after four months of trying, I still cannot count on it working correctly. So I reluctantly purchased an upgrade to WinZip 14. I would love to leave WZ, but PA just doesn't make that feasible.

Rated 50/50 by 4122 at Nov 19, 2009

No "bugs upon bugs upon bugs" here. I use this day in and day out at home & work with no bugs encountered at all. This latest version has made this program an even bigger joy to use. Good job, ConeXware team!

Rated 40/50 by emanresU deriseD at Nov 19, 2009

Well when the change logs mention that bugs have been fixed, it's rather pointless to argue that the software doesn't have bugs. But I know, the point is that not everyone encounters all bugs, right? Okey dokey, so I'm just picky about the software I use working properly, and I know how to tell when it doesn't...

Rated 50/50 by 4122 at Nov 19, 2009

No "bugs upon bugs upon bugs" here. I use this day in and day out at home & work with no bugs encountered at all. This latest version has made this program an even bigger joy to use. Good job, ConeXware team! EDIT: emanresU deriseD, I didn't mean to discount your opinion. Of course when the changelog mentions bugs being fixed they must have existed & of course if you say you encountered bugs then of course you did. An archiving program isn't rocket science so you can't be using it 'wrong'. I haven't had any problems on my setup & of course all PCs are different so experiences vary from person to person. I hope the devs eventually fix the problems you are experiencing as when PowerArchiver works it works very well. Bottom line: Sorry if you thought I was discounting your experiences. It wasn't my intent. I was merely relating mine.

Rated 40/50 by UProf at Mar 13, 2010

"They ARE getting their act together" Great product; lots of features, and now, at least for now, flawless execution. They have been far more cautious before releasing versions. That is a huge plus. If they continue on this trajectory, it will be merit 5 stars . . . easily. none right now. Great products; lots of features, and now, at least, flawless execution. They have been far more cautious before releasing versions. That is a huge plus. If they continue on this trajectory, it will be merit 5 start.

Rated 20/50 by pjb at Apr 27, 2010

In my opinion PowerArchiver is a good application. I have been using it for many years and never run into any issues. I would give the application a 5, however their forum if why I rate the product down. To me when you buy a product you buy it for the actual application and the support that you can get whilst using it. As a registered user of the forum, I thought I would pm a mod about some testing - I did not hear back. I thought I would help a user out who was having a issue, so I posted a reply to the thread the user had started - post needs to be approved by a mod - to date some 2 days later no mod has approved the post. If a user needed some community support from their forum, I feel they are going to have to wait a long time.

Rated 30/50 by pjb at Apr 27, 2010

In my opinion PowerArchiver is a good application. I have been using it for many years and never run into any issues. I would give 5 starts for the application, however I believe support should be rated with the product, as some people may need it further down the line. I have found the support forum very wanting.. You try and help people posting on their forum, trouble is the mods on the site seem very lacking in authorising posts - a very long delay, which when someone is in need of help they are not going to appreciate. Also if you check their Twitter and Facebook page, they have not updated those for a long time.

Rated 20/50 by UProf at May 2, 2010

Distressing. Loads of promise. But they keep churning out new versions before they have worked the kinks of the the existing one. So I am also stumbling across some new glitch. I want software to work, and to work reliably. If you do too, this software is not for you. 'Tis a shame. With care this could easily take the archive market by storm. However, I have tried PA on and off for more than a year. I have finally given up. Sigh

Rated 50/50 by Blade10X at Jul 7, 2010

Powerful! Real flock of features and many additional features. Options you won't find in regular archivers. High quality acrhiver. Nothing, except very boring nag screen which tells you about the licence status when you open the program. If i'd knew before, instead of WinRAR i'll rather use PowerArchiver. He's way much more powerful and featurefull than WinRAR.